India announces slew of science communication projects

India is upping the science communication game with a slew
of new projects lined up in the next couple of months, including a 24-hour
dedicated science news channel, an internet TV channel and a science and
technology portal highlighting the country’s scientific output.

Secretary to India’s Department of Science and Technology (DST)
Ashutosh Sharma announced at a book release function here last evening (9 October
2017) that the efforts were geared at creating a robust space for the public
communication of many initiatives that otherwise remain buried within the
research landscape, which is primarily funded by the government.

Science journalism and public communication of science was “way
too important to be left alone to scientists or journalists”, Sharma said,
adding that just like Corporate Social Responsibility for corporates,
scientists need to be encouraged towards fulfilling a ‘Scientific Social
Responsibility’, through which scientists would be involved in socially-relevant
voluntary activities.

To make scientists come out more in the open about their
work and to hone their communication skills, DST will recognise the best
communicators among PhD students, who would now be mandated to write one
popular science article during their doctoral research.

Launching the book1 – a compelling compilation of
India’s hits and misses with science communication – the country’s science and
technology minister Harsh Vardhan said powerful new age tools were now
available to communicate science and the government feels the need to use them
in creating the value story for India’s science. “We do a lot of things as
ministers but people do not get to know about them,” he said.

Sharma said as India embarks upon large international
projects, such as LIGO and the Square Kilometre Array, it was imperative that
the applications of such multi-million dollar initiatives –technology-spin
offs, socially-relevant uses – be also made more obvious to the public. “It is
important that we make a clear distinction between the excitement of science
and the propaganda of science.” He said the mainstream media had very little
hunger for science stories and that needed to change significantly.

Girish Sahni, Director General of India’s Council for
Industrial and Scientific Research (CSIR), said scientists were very good at
communicating their science to editors of scientific journals but when it came
to breaking down the technicalities of their research for public consumption,
they faced a challenge. “Communication is a two-way street and scientists are mostly
introverts. We need to link science to society and that will open scientists up
more to people,” he said.

Science historian Deepak Kumar pointed out that India could
make a mark globally by taking a firm decision on contentious issues such as genetically
modified crops and by scotching any attempt to promote pseudoscience.